Little America, Morning Munchies, and Homemade Aqauriums

This weekend, while researching fun and interesting things to do in Geneva, I discovered that there is an America Store, by which I mean a store that sells foods that can only be found in America. Naturally, I had to investigate. So today I took an extra long lunch break and went downtown to this little store, which happens to be located  near the main train station in the red-light district interestingly enough. This was a rather tiny store, certainly no larger than 400 sq ft in floor space, but it was packed with lots of things that I have not seen anywhere else since coming here: lots of soda (particularly the more obscure such as root beer, creme soda, Dr Pepper, etc..), oreos, Reeses peanut butter cups, barbeque sauce, skippy peanut butter, and the list goes on. Now, this easily could have instantly become my favorite store in Geneva, except for one little catch: supply-demand economics come into play here. For those of you who fell asleep in intro econ (which by the way, I'm not judging, it happens to every one), I am referring to the astronomical prices of these goods. Yes, I have already complained about the price of food here, but this store takes it to a whole 'nother level. For example, I found that they sell Aunt Jemima pancake mix at this store. It costs about $10. Now, this sounds like a bit much to ask for a box of pancake mix, but I have been missing pancakes for a little while, so I almost went for it. But then I realized I would need some syrup to go with these pancakes. Fortunately, they had bottles of syrup next to the pancake mix on the shelf. THEY WERE OVER $20!!! I'm not talking giant vats of syrup, nor am I speaking of top-shelf maple. A standard bottle of Aunt Jemima syrup costs over $20 at this store. I don't know about any of you, but that's where I draw the line, for now at least. Maybe later down the line I'll be like a crackhead willing to sell his life savings and even dignity for a fix. But for now, a pancake breakfast better sing me a song and do a dance if I'm gonna pay $30 for it. I didn't leave the store empty handed though. I bought some Hidden Valley ranch and Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce, both of which will be very appreciated in my kitchen. This still set me back $16, but at least they'll probably last me while I'm here.

-Speaking of pancakes, I really miss breakfast food. I'm not talking cereal and milk, I mean full, hearty American breakfast: pancakes, bacon, eggs, waffles, all that stuff. Diners don't seem to exist around here. If someone were to open one up, I'm sure they would make a fortune. Even if I was their only customer, I would put their kids through college. The other day I was specifically looking for pancake mix in the store (this was well before the America Store trip) and was freaking out. I looked through every aisle multiple times and found nothing. God help everyone if I ever have a hangover while I'm here. Waffles (at least in hot, syrup-coated breakfast form) are also surprisingly unavailable. I guess I have to go up to Belgium if I want some of these. Bacon technically is available here, but you have to work at it to get it just right. By that I mean that it is cut incredibly thick and you would have to use surgeon hands to get it to appropriate thinness. Also, if you order it in a restaurant (on pizza or crepe or elsewhere), it comes very under-cooked, so sizzling crispy bacon is something that I will just have to go out and make myself, given that I have a full afternoon to prepare it. They also have lots of bacon-looking things: prosciutto and other such h'ors doeuvres meats. Though they have a good bacon disguise, they don't pass as bacon when it comes to the taste test. Now that I think about it though, I have never tried microwaving it or turning it into bacon. Such an experiment would most likely turn out disastrous, but if I ever go through with it y'all will be the first to hear the results, after the fire department of course. Eggs are simple enough to cook, but it would feel so sad without the proper breakfast sides that usually accompany them. I'm amazed they don't even have bagels here. Everyone and their mom has a giant plate of croissants on their table, but sometimes that's just not what I need. What I need is that dense, less butter-soaked roll for delicious flavors such as salt, blueberry, cinnamon raisin, or just a good excuse to eat pizza anytime. And don't forget the creme cheese. That is also crucial to the bagel breakfast, and dos't quite work on croissants. And unlike croissants, you can be sufficiently full after one or two bagels and not 17. So to all those Jewish bakers in Switzerland, I send out my plea. Make the bagels that you were born to make. And to those aspiring Swiss entrepreneurs, go to the U.S., try Ihop, take some notes, and go back home and make yourself some money.

-There is something at home that has been bothering me a bit lately, and that is the shower. Take a look.

Notice how there is neither a curtain nor a door. Instead, there is a piece of glass that extends two feet from the wall. Now, one of the nice aspects of the shower is that the pressure is great. However, given the lack of a proper barrier, this is also a disadvantage. Every time someone takes a shower, no matter how brief, water goes EVERYWHERE! The bathroom floor towel gets fully drenched and the floor around it becomes totally flooded. This bathroom flooding cannot be avoided, but it can be minimized by aiming the shower head at the back wall. The problem with this though is that every time I need to get under the water, I hit my head on the wall, and thus suffer a little more brain damage every time I want to get clean. So if I seem a bit dumber the next time you see me, it's because my hotel doesn't understand the concept of a shower curtain. It should also be mentioned that even though the pressure is decent, the temperature can only be decent for so long. There is not much hot water allocated to each room, so if you're not the first shower, you can expect the hot water to shut off real soon. I don't mean luke warm, I mean ice cold, cooler than cool. There are few things less pleasant that waking up to water so cold that you become short of breath by sticking your head under it.

Well, I now officially have a craving for Ihop. Maybe if I eat enough chocolate I won't have these cravings anymore , or my foot for that matter. Better stick to 18 croissants instead.

Before I end, I should note that my postings will probably start to get shorter. When I first arrived I noticed/remembered a lot of topics, perhaps too much too say all at once. Now after a week here, I'm noticing new things a little less frequently, so I will subsequently mention fewer items in each post so as to make this blog last longer. I'm still keeping track of the things I have to write about on the side though, and I've got plenty to last me for quite a bit. So if you have been keeping up, don't worry, there is still plenty more on the way.